The French interior minister has been accused of ordering police to remove tramps and gypsies from his neighbourhood 'so his wife can shop in peace'.

Manuel Valls, 50, reportedly told officers to show 'zero tolerance' in evicting homeless people from the stylish district around the Place de la Bastille near his home in Paris.

According to a satirical weekly, Le Canard Enchaîné, Mr Valls ordered the clean-up at the request of his glamorous wife, Anne Gravoin, after she allegedly complained of being accosted by a drunken down-and-out on a trip to supermarket.

Elegant couple: Manuel Valls reportedly cracked down on the homeless people in his area after one accosted wife Anne Gravoin

On watch: Officers have now been stationed around the fashionable area near the Place de la Bastille, pictured, and are constantly moving on tramps and gypsies

Officers have now been stationed outside the Franprix store, and managers told the magazine police had now been outside for two weeks, moving loiterers on.

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Yesterday, Mr Valls said 'categorically' denied he was behind the police clean-up operation, saying the claims were 'unfounded', according to the Daily Telegraph.

Paris police said the forceful approach was in response to complaints by right-wing politicians and petitions from residents over the past three months.

But local officers reportedly said the move came 'because Madame Valls was very shocked by women begging with their babies. It was a humanitarian response.'

Ms Gravoin, a classically trained
violinist, is no stranger to controversy. She was criticised in August
after saying of prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault’s wife Brigitte: 'It has
to be said that a musician is a little more glamorous than Mrs Ayrault, a
German teacher from the suburbs of Nantes!'

Raids on Roma: Mr Valls previously expelled hundreds of gypsies from camps in the Parisian suburb of Evry, where he was mayor

She is said to regularly accompany first
lady Valerie Trierweile 'to choose dresses and outfits in the capital’s
top fashion stores.'

This is not the first time her husband's heavy-handed treatment of gypsies on his own doorstep has come under scrutiny.

In August, the minister ordered police to destroy a Roma camp in his political powerbase and to deport illegal immigrants living there.

Officers armed with truncheons and shields moved into the settlement in the Paris suburb of Evry, where Mr Valls was mayor for 11 years from 2001.

He was said to have acted because the camp was 'dangerously close to a commuter railway line' and could create public health problems.

'Not involved': Mr Valls is famous for his tough approach to down-and-outs in Evry, pictured, but he 'categorically' denied he was behind the latest police clean-up operation

Police arrived at 5am, and by 7am, young children could be seen dragging suitcases, bags and bicycles away from the site.

More than 70 people were evicted from caravans and makeshift huts, with most expected to be returned to Romania.

The raid was said to show that the Socialist firebrand was determined to ‘clean up illegal immigrants in his own back yard’, according to a party colleague.

The source added: 'By breaking up a camp in his constituency he is showing he means business.’

Mr Valls said the camps were a ‘challenge’ to ‘people living together’ and insisted the police would uphold all court orders aimed at dismantling them.

His tough stance on crime and illegal gypsy camps has seen him nicknamed the 'Nicolas Sarkozy of the Left'.

Familiar approach: Mr Valls has been nicknamed the 'Nicolas Sarkozy of the Left' because of the former president's similar hardline stance on gypsies

Mr Sarkozy started a purge on Romas in the summer of 2010, pointing to the fact that up to 15,000 were living in camps across France, and proposing that police go to Romania to fight trafficking and other crime.

Roma groups accused Mr Sarkozy of ‘ethnic cleansing’, pointing to the fact that gipsies had been targeted by the Nazis during the Second World War.

Mr Valls is currently the most popular politician in France, with a 75 per cent approval rate, according to Ifop.

Shortly before tackling the suburb of Evry, he ordered the destruction of numerous Roma camps across France, with sites broken up in Lille, Lyon and Marseilles, as well as Paris.